BEREA, Ky. — Community Farm Alliance (CFA) alongside partner Black Soil: Our Better Nature have launched the Mattie Mack Farmer Fund to support Kentucky’s BIPOC farming community.
Mrs. Mattie Mack, (1937-2018), born to sharecroppers in Fairfield, Georgia, Mrs. Mack moved to Kentucky after marrying Bill Mack and together farmed tobacco, cattle and hogs for over 50 years while raising four children, including 37 foster children. As a leader with Community Farm Alliance and renown story-teller, Mrs. Mack respectfully advocated for her fellow farmers through her own story of farming in the face of disadvantages. In 1995 Mrs. Mack sang on stage with Willie Nelson at the 10th Farm Aid event in Louisville Ky. She also created and supported the Kentucky Minority Farmers Cooperative while supporting the infrastructure being built at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in Alabama.
In 2019, Community Farm Alliance identified that COVID-19 created opportunities and challenges for all small family-scale farmers. For Black farmers, these new demands are piled onto existing challenges, because of these systemic historical inequities. Through Community Farm Alliance’s Patchwork Initiative, with support from Farm Aid, the Just Transition Fund, the Foundation for Appalachian Ky, the Gates Foundation and Luther Mason memorial, the Kentucky Black Farmer Fund was created. Through two rounds of funding, the KBFF supported 52 Black farmers and their families in 26 counties across the state.
“Thank you for your kind and warm response as well as the financial support. I too look forward to our continuing efforts at small-scale production and community involvement. I look forward to meeting you sometime soon and continuing our collaborative efforts.”- Ky BIPOC Farmer after receiving funding from Kentucky Black Farmer Fund.
CFA is now accepting tax deductible contributions to add to the $30,000 in the KBFF to grow the Mattie Mack Farmer Fund into a permanent fund to continue support Kentucky’s BIPOC farmers through emergency mini-grants and larger grants to bridge gaps in funding sources, as a step to other funds, and as a match or cost share to leverage larger funding opportunities.
For more information about and how to make a tax-deductible contribution please visit: https://cfaky.org/mattiemackfund/
For more information on the Patchwork Initiative: https://cfaky.org/patchwork-initiative/
About Community Farm Alliance
Community Farm Alliance was form by Kentucky farmers in 1985 during the 1980s Farm Crisis to support Kentucky’s family farmers. Through community reengagement, leadership development, model programs and public policy CFA members work to organize and encourage cooperation among rural and urban citizens through leadership development and grassroots democratic processes to ensure an essential, prosperous place for family-scale agriculture in our economies and communities.
For more information about CFA please visit: https://cfaky.org
About Black Soil: Our Better Nature
BLACK SOIL KY is a one-of-a-kind black woman-owned small business established in 2017 which has invested over $1 million into black farming operations, culinary businesses, creators, craftspeople, and makers through grants, strategic partnerships, sales, and agritourism activities.
For more information about Black Soil: Our Better Nature please visit: https://www.blacksoilky.com
— Community Farm Alliance
